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Wednesday, 6 January 2016

This Week In 1991: January 6, 1991

Are we up to 1991 already? When I began this blog in 2012, looking back at the ARIA charts from July 1987, I never anticipated there'd be enough interest for me to stillbe doing it three-and-a-half years later. Thanks to all the regular or occasional visitors who read, comment, share, like and otherwise engage with my posts, whether it's here on my blog, on music forums or on the Chart Beats Facebook page.

Everything was coming up aces for Ratcat in 1991

If you want to know what I was listening to in 1991, you can check out my top 100 for the year here. Not all of the songs on my personal chart reached the ARIA chart, but we'll look back at every single that did make the Australian top 100 throughout the year.

ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart - three weeks ending January 6, 1991

Right at the very top of the first chart for 1991 (which covered the three weeks from December 17, 1990 to January 6, 1991), The Righteous Brothers held on at number 1 with "Unchained Melody". Thanks to the additional weeks reflected in this chart, their run at the top now jumped up to seven weeks - but in seven days' time, there'd be a new chart-topper.

Number 90"Gas Stop (Who Do You Think You Are)" by BoxcarPeak: number 82The third single from the criminally underrated album Vertigo might have once again been all but ignored in Australia, but at least it gave the Brisbane synthpop band their first top 100 entry.

New EntriesNumber 50 Tingles by RatcatPeak: number 1Talk about a sleeper hit. This EP by Sydney indie band Ratcat first hit the top 100 in late October 1990 and had spent the final couple of months of the year yoyo-ing in the 50s and 60s before building up enough momentum to edge into the top 50 as one of the first new hits of 1991. The band's first release on their new label, rooArt (home of Absent Friends and The Hummingbirds), Tingles then spent 20 weeks working its way up to the number 1 spot, finally reached the top in May, by which time follow-up "Don't Go Now" had also shot straight into the top 10. Of the six tracks on the EP (which you can hear in its entirety by clicking the link in the title above), "That Ain't Bad" received the lion's share of attention - and it's the only song from Tingles I've ever heard until now. Regular readers may remember from my 30 Years Ago... posts that when Species Deceases debuted at number 1 at the end of 1985, I mentioned the ARIA rule that an EP qualified for the singles chart if it contained no more than five tracks. Clearly that rule came into effect post-Tingles.

Number 49 "Throw Your Arms Around Me" by Hunters & CollectorsPeak: number 34From one legendary Aussie rock release to another - "Throw Your Arms Around Me" is an even more iconic track than "That Ain't Bad", despite never getting any higher than number 34 on the ARIA chart. It wasn't for want of trying - this was the third recording of the song by the band to be released, with prior versions coming out in 1984 (and failing to chart) and 1986 (and reaching number 49). This new, acoustic take on the rock ballad was recorded for inclusion on Hunters & Collectors' first greatest hits album, Collected Works, which at least became their highest-charting album up until that point by reaching number 6. One of those examples of chart achievement not being required to turn a song into a classic, "Throw Your Arms Around Me" did triumph on another countdown - ranking in the top 5 of the first three Triple J Hottest 100s between 1989 and 1991.

Number 47 100 Miles And Runnin' by N.W.A.Peak: number 33Speaking of Triple J, here's our third new entry in a row with a strong link to the radio station that, at this point, was in the process of going national. In the case of N.W.A., 2JJJ had famously played the song "Express Yourself" for 24 hours straight in protest at the ban on playing another track by the US rap group, "Fuck Tha Police". Given all that attention, as well as the fact that 100 Miles And Runnin' was N.W.A.'s first release following the departure of original member Ice Cube, the EP improved on the top 100 placing of "Express Yourself" to become the group's only top 50 appearance... until "Fuck Tha Police" peaked at number 49 last year off the back of biopic Straight Outta Compton. As well as none-too-flattering lyrical references to Ice Cube, the lead - and title - track caused controversy of a different kind when one of its many samples resulted in a drawn-out court case. The use of a snippet of Funkadelic's "Get Off Your Ass And Jam" led to the ruling that a licence is required from the original rights-holders of a song even if only a couple of seconds of the track being sampled is used.

Number 43 "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" by Janet JacksonPeak: number 14For almost anyone else, a seventh single from an album would mean the bottom of the barrel was beingwell and truly scraped. Not so Janet Jackson, who'd saved one of the best tracks from Rhythm Nation 1814 for release 14 months after the album first came out. In Australia, it was actually the fifth single, with both "Alright" and "Come Back To Me" being skipped over for release here. Janet also revealed a brand new look in the Herb Ritts-directed music video - with the more overtly sexual tone of the clip something we'd never seen from Janet before.By reaching number 1 in the US, "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" broke all sorts of chart records there, while it became the third biggest release from the album in Australia, falling just two places short of lead single "Miss You Much". The success of the song also lit a fire under Rhythm Nation, which had performed pretty badly on the albums chartup until that point, having never risen above number 23 and being absent from the top 50 for most of 1990. The album suddenly catapulted up the chart and spent three weeks at number 1 in February. Better late than never.

Number 42 "Hippychick" by SohoPeak: number 21Our highest new entry comes from another song featuring a prominent - but this time, legally credited - sample. First released in the UK in April 1990, "Hippychick" by British trio Soho made use of a guitar riff from "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths - and would shortly be heading towards the UK top 10 on re-release there. In Australia, it looks like the track may have been released exclusively on 12" - or at any rate, that's the format that sold the majority of copies. Fronted by sisters Jacqui and Pauline Cuff, Soho would continue to release music throughout the decade, but none of their other songs caught on in the same way.

Listen to this week's new entries on my Spotify playlist of all the top 50 hits from 1991:

Next week: another future number 1 enters the top 50, as does a remake of a '70s classic and a solo single with the same title as a song released by the performer's old band. Speaking of songs with the same titles, we'll also see two identically named singles - one which just made the top 50 and one which just missed it.

5 comments:

1991 was the year I started high school, and I'm now having an 'omg, that was *25* years ago!' moment.

I'd never heard 'Saviour's Day'. Its lack of success here illustrates the stark contrast between Australia & the UK with the importance placed on the Christmas chart/#1.

I had forgotten that 'The Way You Do the Things You Do' was re-issued here in 1992. Interesting that the Vevo video is a live performance, when 2 proper promo videos for it exist.

Just as well Dannii's music career (relatively) took off for her in the UK, or she'd surely risk being dropped (in Australia) with this single and her debut album's performance locally. I've uploaded a better copy of the video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tK7tkARuCk

'Gas Stop...' deserved to do much better. Unfortunately (and stupidly), the video (both 7" and 12" versions) is blocked worldwide.

'Tingles' charted on the AMR's albums chart, leading to the unusual situation where (from memory) the ARIA #1 was nowhere to be seen in Video Hits' chart countdown. Despite there being 6 tracks, I think ARIA got it right. In retrospect, it heralded the beginning of 'alternative' music becoming commercial (on the singles chart) in Australia.

A friend of my parents who knew I was into music asked me around this time if I knew the song that had "I will kiss you in four places" as one of the lyrics, so she could buy it. I had no idea what song she was referring to, though, as I hadn't listened to 'Throw Your Arms Around Me' closely enough.

I bought 'Hippychick' on cassingle, so it was definitely released on that format, too. Actually, I would have thought cassingles had overtaken vinyl as the most popular single format by now, so it's interesting to see ARIA still listing the catalogue no's for the vinyl editions.

Well i've decided that 1991 will be the year I start re-visiting my personal charts (Even though I don't have any information on hand until mid '96 and even then it's scratchy till the start of '98 :P).Your probly asking why not start back in '88 to sync with this site or better still start last year? TBH my knowledge on everything obscure pre '91 is really sketchy and my memory failed me way too many times in the last 2 and a bit years following GavinScott and his magical time machine 8-)

As for this weeks new entries, the Cliff Richard track is nothing new for him and is bland and unforgettable.

I actually enjoy the UB40 track, disappointed it didn't crack the TOP 50 here in Aus.

[i]From Out Of Nowhere[/i] still sounds very dated to me, it sounded that way when I first heard it :-/ and is not a favorite of mine from their back catalogue.

Dannii still didn't do anything for me at this point so this one didn't surprise me.

Never heard the Boxcar track till tonight and it's pretty cool on first listen.

LOVED [i]That Ain't Bad[/i]. used to own that EP but for some stupid reason I offloaded it a few years back on Ebay >:(

[i]Throw Your Arms Around Me[/i] has grown on me immensely over recent years and for a long time I really didn't get what the fuss was in this track. I remember first stumbling upon it during the 1998 BEST OF ALL TIME on RAGE and thinking, really? Now I personally regard up their as one of their best behind [i]When The River Runs Dry[/i].

As you all probly know N.W.A. have been prominent on our charts in the past 12 months or so, so i've been revisiting a lot of their back catalogue aswell. [i]100 Miles & Runnin'[/i] still doesn't do anything for me and it's really disappointing that they have really no chart success here in Australia because they do have some great tracks.

After [i]Black Cat[/i], [i]Love Will Never Do (Without You[/i] is Janet's second best from the album and that sexy vibe with the killer video makes it even more irresistible.

[i]Hippychick[/i] is pretty cool with the sample but apart from that it's got nothing going for it.

I'm trying to collect a lot of the songs that charted. But what makes it hard is that I want the version that was on the single everybody bought. I recently found a 45 of "Love Will Never Do Without You" in my (unfortunately, late) mother-in-law's collection (now ours) and I played it.

I was so surprised when I did: This was not just a "single edit" or a "single mix" but an outright remix! I had not heard this version since I heard it on the radio at the start of 1991 and had completely forgotten it.

I now have the CD singles of both "Love Will Never Do Without You" and "Black Cat", both featuring over seven mixes of each song and both running about an hour! They include the single (re)mixes of both songs and the 12" remixes. And, honestly, to my surprise, most of them are actually enjoyable, although I've never played either CD from start to finish in one go.